Grrr.... I've been wanting to try dvorak for quite a while now.. and I finally decided to give it a shot. So yay, I figure I'll pop the keys off my key board and put them in the right locations for the dvorak... So I get almost all of them off and suddenly realize that for some stupid reason the f and j keys (in qwerty) have a slighty different connector than the rest. So now there are four keys I can't put in the right spot so I might as well have to put them all back where I took them off from. *Sigh* ... another wasted part of my life...

On a side note it is really odd typing with all the keys taken off of the keyboard...

Does everyone here think it makes more sense to put them all back in qwert order and mark them all with marker for dvorak, or to put them as close to dvorak as I can and mark the 4 for dvorak that need to be marked?_________________Shoot Pixels Not People

No... Lol, in fact... I'm using the keyboard from the HP I used to have before the mobo got fried. I do not even know if I would like dvorak I just wanted to try it... *sigh* oh well, I guess it's time to either get the marker out or the label maker..._________________Shoot Pixels Not People

I knew someone would end up saying that... lol. I want to put them there so I can learn it... I try not to look at the keys but when I'm tired or entering a new password in the first few times it's easier to chicken peck
lol, okay... those are horrible reasons...well...well... I do have other people who occasionally use my computer. It might be nice for them to know where the keys are at

..... okay... I just sound wimpy huh? *sigh*_________________Shoot Pixels Not People

Don't look at the keyboard when you type - you'll learn faster. Just leave the QWERTY keys where they are.

If you need to see the letters either use a marker or buy a Dvorak keyboard. Moving the keys on most keyboards will result in a funny feeling keys. Although they don't look like it, the keys are actually slightly tilted for your fingers. I remapped a keyboard at one time, but as a touch typist, the feel of the keys was enough to drive me nuts._________________mlynx
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Did your mom -Os your brain when you were a baby?

I knew someone would end up saying that... lol. I want to put them there so I can learn it... I try not to look at the keys but when I'm tired or entering a new password in the first few times it's easier to chicken peck

I agree with rac of course; don't look at the keyboard and you'll learn much more quickly. What can go a long way when you're doing this is to have a good picture of the Dvorak keymap; edit it with the GIMP or something so that it's color coded by finger, and the columns are apparent - makes learning much easier.

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lol, okay... those are horrible reasons...well...well... I do have other people who occasionally use my computer. It might be nice for them to know where the keys are at

Think of it this way: Dvorak adds a measure of security to your computer. Anyway, if you want to make it easy for people to use your computer, then you should set up a shell script to quickly change keymaps, like zojas mentioned here._________________Man must shape his tools lest they shape him.

but i took a sharp knife and "redid" the keys that whoulnd fit and the wholes it should go into (just make it a litle bit larger, cut the edges off). and just inserted them, it works but they are a litle bit like "sloppy" i can like rotate the j key litle bit more than any other key.

oh, and you can have the image of a dvorak layout Carlos mentioned as your background _________________NoManNoProblem

I learnt on a rearranged keyboard. Keyboards with keys that are all the same angle and shape do exist. I've also found blank keyboards for 4 UKP (about $6-7). These are quite handy too.

Since learning, I've not used the rearranged keyboard. It's easier when working and living with others to leave everything qwerty. Just don't look down! After a while, your brain superimposes the letters on the keys even when you do look down...it's very strange.

I prefer Dvorak but it took about 3-4 months to get to a decent speed. It's hard to stay Dvorak all the time and you end up becoming able to switch between the two. Because I tend to type Qwerty when others are with me at the computer, I get this weird thing happen -- whenever anyone comes over to talk to me, my brain switches to qwerty even though the map is set to dvorak and I start typing erroneous text...it's very embarassing when your WPM plummets in front of people!

Stick with it though, use something like gtypist to practive and all should be well. I wouldn't bother with a hardware dvorak keyboard, but www.dvortyboards.com sell them if you do want one. The TypeMatrix has interested me but it's very expensive compared to the keybaords I could pick up for $6 or so.

For me it was several things that motivated me. Some are a little childish, others are practical:

Design Dvorak is a better thought out keyboard layout for computing. Qwerty was designed to avoid typewriter hammer jams whilst Dvorak was designed for speed/less hand movement.

Education I like learning challenging new skills -- it's a mind over matter thing. I got a sense of achievement from learning Dvorak as it would have been easy to have given up.

Security It provides another level of security: people find it difficult to type on my computer when I am away and they will find it incredibly difficult to unlock the screen even if they know the password. On Windows this means the administrator cannot log in when my machine is locked as he will get his password wrong.

Ergonomics It's easier on the hands. It involves less jumping around the keyboard and very little use of the lower row of keys...in English at least. I'm eager to try out the www.dvortyboards.com TypeMatrix keyboard that has keys in straight columns. The staggered rows on current keyboards are another throwback to typewriters and hammer arrangement so I'm wondering how much better a more sensible layout would be.

Entertainment Learning Dvorak passed the time when I had a very boring, slow job. It slowed me down enough that the stuff I had to do took the whole day.

Performance Apparently fast typist can type faster on Dvorak than on Qwerty when they have learnt both. I'm, personally, still faster on Qwerty, but make less mistakes on Dvorak as, this time, I avoided a lot of bad habits I had with Qwerty after migrating from two finger poking to touch typing.

Choice Why go with the defacto standard when there are other options that may be better. Check them out and see what they have to offer. That's why you're here on Gentoo isn't it?

Just leave the keys in the Pseudo-Dvorak configuration and change the label on the two oddball keys with a label. My favorite is the Ptoch labler, though some masking tape and a marking pen would work 2.

More fun than whiteout on Scrabble tiles._________________I've found that people will take what you say more seriously if you tell them Ben Franklin said it first.